


the thing with feathers

by orphan_account



Series: ripples [11]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22775704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rey remembers.
Series: ripples [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1032564
Kudos: 1





	the thing with feathers

Rey fetches the lightsaber as soon as Luke throws it over his shoulder. "Hey!" 

He doesn't look back; she grits her teeth and forces herself to stop. 

_"Hey!"_

He stops - looks the slightest bit annoyed. Rey thinks that Jedi maybe aren't _supposed_ to be annoyed, but what does she know, really? 

"I'm not going to teach you," Luke says. He knows - of course he knows. "It's too dangerous." 

"Well," Rey says, crossing her arms. "Your sister sent me. I'm not sure you have much of a choice." 

His eyes widen when he mentions General Organa - for a brief moment she sees a laughing young man with a yellow jacket and a girl - a woman, elegant and strong, her hair in a perfect updo. Luke is looking at her, still.

Rey realizes the memory must have been his. 

"Who are you?" His voice is steady. 

There are too many ways to answer that, so Rey goes with the one she knows best. "Rey." 

"Where are you from, Rey?" 

She looks down, cheeks burning. The feeling is foreign. "Nowhere, basically." 

Rey looks up, and there's something familiar on his face, like he's heard this all before. "No one's really from nowhere."

"Jakku," she supplements, and for the briefest moment his eyes crinkle, like he's about to smile. Rey thinks of the laughing young boy and wonders if in another life, smiling was as easy as breathing to him.

"Well," he says. "You're right about nowhere then. I thought the same, once." 

A word comes in Rey's head - clear rust brown deserts, two teardrop suns sinking into the horizon, skies blue for a million miles. She says it before she knows what she's saying. 

"About Tatooine." 

Luke looks at her, and this time, his eyes look - look - 

"You have power, Rey. Power that could be used for the wrong purpose. You've seen what becomes of that." 

She nods, and it feels like everything has shifted, just a bit. It feels like something blooming inside of her, like a beginning. 

"I understand. I promise - " Rey stops, and thinks of Ren's eyes, dark and bright as he stared at his father for the last time, as he screamed in the forest - _you need a teacher!_ She remembers staring him down, flatly saying what she'd seen. _You're afraid you'll never be as -_

"I promise to _listen."_

He sighs, and Rey grins. "Does that mean - " 

Luke - _Master Skywalker_ , she quickly amends, gives her a look that could be exasperation, but isn't, really. 

"Yes," and when she holds the lightsaber out to him, he shakes his head. "It's yours now." 

There's something a little faraway about his voice, like he's talking to someone else entirely. Rey takes a breath and follows him, the soft winds humming in her ears. 

  
  


When Rey was young, alone and gnawing with an ache that never really went away, she heard stories. Whispered snatches of them, of things so fantastical they seemed unreal. Hearing them was like breathing fresh air or drinking a whole canteen of water.

Rey listened about X-Wings, about rogue squadrons, about flying and feeling, about the thing that kept the Rebellion going even when it seemed like there was nowhere else to go. 

"But what's that?" she asked the older woman telling the tale, leaning forward. "What was it?" 

Rey remembers the old woman's eyes, green like she'd never seen, until Takodana. Until she'd left.

"Anything," the woman said. "Anything they needed it to be."

As she follows Luke Skywalker, follows his footsteps into this war, Rey remembers that. She carries it with her and breathes in the cold, chilly air. Rain patters like a stolen song, settles in her hair. Rey stops for a second to cup her hands around the falling water.

Master Skywalker stops and turns back.

"First time?" he says. His eyes are crinkling again. 

"Yeah," Rey replies, tips her head up to let the rain kiss her face. "Yes. I'll never forget this."

This is not someone else's memory or a story. 

This, for a moment, is hers. 


End file.
